arrange • compose • conduct
My overarching philosophy as a choral leader can come down to these four words: “Wear your authority lightly.” Of course that applies to not overstepping or abusing your authority. That should be obvious and universal. But it also applies to every single interaction. My authority doesn’t make me more right […]
Jazz singing is an oral tradition. You need to listen to multiple recordings as you begin to prepare a song, for one big reason. It’s this: the interpretation of the song has evolved away from the original sheet music and into something living. Only by listening to multiple recordings can […]
When you’re working with professionals, it’s evident almost immediately – and it makes your own performance, and your state of mind, so much better. I spent part of yesterday in a socially-distanced video shoot with several professionals from Grand Rapids Community College. Each other person there (someone from the charitable […]
When you’re an aspiring creator, you seek the remarkable, earth-shattering change. The one work of transformative art that will literally change everything. I’d rather make incremental change, day after day. That work isn’t fast, it isn’t flashy, it won’t bring you fame. But it will change the world. It will […]
I like to imagine myself ready to answer this question at any moment in my rehearsal. Why are we doing this particular warmup? Why are we singing this particular repertoire? Why are we spending ten minutes on this particular 4-bar phrase? Why are you taking time away from singing to […]
Small daily habits are better than big habits that happen less frequently. Dr. Steve Zegree always used the idea of “five minutes a day” as the benchmark for practicing a new skill. And it’s really true – a half mile run every day for a month is easy to repeat […]
The practice of making your decisions and behaviors match your ideals is the work of a lifetime. We are all working on it. It’s why New Year’s Resolutions continue to exist and hold our attention. The desire of matching ideals and behaviors. Our students will repeatedly fail at this matching–just […]
Challenge: record yourself singing to a quantized MIDI, track, but make it breathe with musicality…without making any rhythm inaccurate, strictly speaking. The best way to get a consistent MIDI guide track is to quantize the heck out of it. When you quantize the MIDI, you take out all the small […]
Many of my artist and performer friends have been sharing articles about the apocalyptic present and gloomy predictions about the future of the arts post-COVID. Arts is often the last area to recover from an economic crisis, and the near-complete elimination of performances has exacerbated that. (It’s further exacerbated by […]
One of the things choir leaders will need to wrestle with in the coming months is students afraid of heartbreak. Last year, my students lost musical performances, a trip to Europe, all concerts after March, and so much more. So did everyone else, of course. But it’s easier for adults, […]